President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. said he envisions the launch of the Pier 88 project in Cebu province as an important piece of the puzzle in pushing for connectivity, and seamless travel and international trade.
In his speech during the launch of Pier 88 in Liloan, Cebu, the President said the seaport project will be a springboard for bigger undertakings in the future.
“Today, we put in place a very important piece of that puzzle; that puzzle that we are trying to put together so that our connectivity, not only amongst the islands of the Philippines, but even amongst our international friends and visitors and tourists, is strengthened and made easier and more accessible,” Marcos said.
“These are the important aspects that we have to attend to if we are going to transform our economy into the post-pandemic economy. So, there is much that we will achieve. There are activities of tourism, job generation, energy efficiency and sustainability,” he added, noting that the project would not only be good for Liloan and nearby islands in Cebu but also for the entire country.
The President said such kinds of projects are being discussed by member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for the longest time.
“The concept that ASEAN leaders have been talking about so as to develop the economies of the ASEAN Member States is a concept of connectivity. We have used the word connectivity merely to describe digital connectivity,” President Marcos noted.
He pointed out that the meaning of connectivity has expanded to include not only the digital realm, but also connectivity in terms of land, sea, and air transport and travel.
“We have seen, all of us have seen all the problems with supply chain networks and that is why we have focused, all of us have focused on making that connectivity smoother, more streamlined, more accessible and easier to use and therefore making the ease of doing business not such a difficult effort for those who would like to do business in any way whatsoever,” the President added.
He also said that the project will not only improve the local business in Cebu, in terms of tourism, but also boost the economic activity in the entire country.
“This is in consonance with the discussions that we have been making with other countries, especially around ASEAN, even including all the way up to Europe, in that we are going to work together to increase our tourism volume and this is, again, this may seem as just one single port, (but) it is a very good development,” he said.
“But we must think of it in terms of not only this single port that we are looking at here now but as part of a larger system, a larger network which will make it easier, not only for Filipinos to get from one place to another, for Filipinos to be able to do business, to open up areas that do not have economic activity as of now,” he added.
Two years ago, then a presidential aspirant, Marcos said that modernizing the Philippines’ infrastructure will make the country the next logistics hub in Asia.
In a statement, he stressed the need to upgrade the country’s aging seaports, airports and railways, and expand them as well.
“Our strategic location in the Pacific is an advantage that no other country has. It’s time for us to leverage this and aspire to become a major logistics hub in the region. To achieve this, we will need to modernize our existing seaports, airports, and railways or build new ones where necessary,” Marcos added.
He also highlighted the need for port automation, computerization and artificial intelligence (AI) to increase efficiency and prevent port congestion, which will lead to lower shipping costs.
Marcos said the Philippines must develop smart ports that use shared data platforms, machine learning and AI to plan and manage critical port operations, including vessel and truck traffic management, container stacking, storage and transshipments.
“We are already seeing changes in the spending habits of Filipinos with the rise of e-commerce platforms,” Marcos said.
“This is a trend that was accelerated by the pandemic and is only expected to grow in the years to come. We need to adopt technologies deployed in other ports such as in Europe and even from our ASEAN neighbor, Singapore, to develop our own smart ports,” he added in the same statement.
Marcos also believes that the increased trade generated by modernizing seaports, airports and railways will create a steady revenue stream for the government.
Among those who graced the event were Vice President and Education Secretary Sara Duterte, Tourism Secretary Christina Garcia-Frasco, Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista, Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, and local officials of the municipality of Liloan.
As Pier 88 serves as a port for passenger ferries and cargo vessels, it shall eventually become an economic gateway for Northern Cebu. While providing faster alternative route for commuters, the initiative will also be a mixed-use development project that will cater to businesses and serve as a park for recreation.
The port development project, undertaken by the local government of Liloan, in partnership with Pier 88 Ventures Inc. and Topline Group of Companies, has an estimated total cost of P2 billion
It will have a green commercial building equipped with solar panels, and a Smart Port System that will feature an Automated Ticketing System. (PND)
